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GreenSquareAccord Limited (202341955)

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REPORT

COMPLAINT 202341955

GreenSquareAccord Limited

9 April 2025


Our approach

The Housing Ombudsman’s approach to investigating and determining complaints is to decide what is fair in all the circumstances of the case. This is set out in the Housing Act 1996 and the Housing Ombudsman Scheme (the Scheme). The Ombudsman considers the evidence and looks to see if there has been any ‘maladministration’, for example whether the landlord has failed to keep to the law, followed proper procedure, followed good practice or behaved in a reasonable and competent manner.

Both the resident and the landlord have submitted information to the Ombudsman and this has been carefully considered. Their accounts of what has happened are summarised below. This report is not an exhaustive description of all the events that have occurred in relation to this case, but an outline of the key issues as a background to the investigation’s findings.

The complaint

  1. The complaint is about the landlord’s response to the resident’s reports about problems with the electrics in her home.

Background

  1. The resident is an assured tenant of the landlord.
  2. The resident raised concerns about faulty electrics in her property to her MP in February 2024, which the landlord responded to in March 2024. The landlord said it had attended the property on 23 February 2024 following a report about a washing machine socket not working. It said the socket was tested, all electrics were working and the usage of the smart meter was explained to the resident. The records show the landlord attended several further times over the next months in response to reports from the resident about the electrics.
  3. The resident raised a complaint to the landlord on 8 July 2024. She said she had a low wattage of electricity in her property, she did not have enough power for her lights, and her fridge freezer was not turned on. She said the landlord had previously completed an electrical test and had blamed her mental health for the issues she was experiencing.
  4. The landlord issued a stage 1 response on 16 August 2024. It said that in the previous 8 months it had attended reports at the resident’s home on a continuous basis. It had found on each occasion that the electrics were working with no faults. It said it had received over 100 emails from the resident between 5 and 16 August 2024. It said the volume of correspondence was not acceptable, and provided details about its unacceptable behaviour policy.
  5. The resident escalated her complaint in an email on 17 August 2024. She said she had sent video evidence of faulty electrics. The resident said she had heard people climbing into her loft to tamper with the wiring. She said she believed the landlord’s staff felt she was delusional. On 24 August 2024 the resident added to her complaint, saying that a plug had exploded in her hand. She said she sent the landlord a video and audio recordings of incidents with the electrics.
  6. The landlord issued its final response on 16 September 2024. It said that it had received a high number of reports from the resident about the electrics and had attended each time. Despite its efforts it had not found any faults or problems. and it said it would not attend to further reports about the electrics unless the report was about a new fault.
  7. The resident remained dissatisfied with the landlord’s response and complained about similar issues on 28 September 2024. The landlord responded on 1 November 2024, noting that her complaint had already completed its complaints process. Nonetheless it agreed to complete a Portable Appliance Test (PAT) of the resident’s appliances on 12 November 2024. The resident escalated her complaint, and the landlord issued a final response on 14 November 2024. It reiterated its stage 1 response and confirmed the PAT was completed on 12 November 2024. No faults had been found apart from one extension lead which it advised the resident not to use.
  8. In November 2024, the resident also escalated a previous stage 1 complaint the landlord had responded to in June 2024. She said no electricians had attended her property. The landlord issued a stage 2 response to this complaint on 27 November 2024. It reiterated its previous response on the matter and said the electrics in the property were safe.
  9. The resident confirmed to the Service in November 2024 that she remained dissatisfied with the landlord’s responses to her reports about the electrics.

Assessment and findings

Scope of investigation

  1. Following the landlord’s second stage complaint response in September 2024 the resident raised or escalated 2 further complaints. As explained above, the landlord responded to these by reiterating its original decision and explaining the complaint process was complete. The resident eventually brought all 3 complaints to the Ombudsman and separate cases were opened for each of them. All of the complaints centred on the same issue over a continuous and short period, but this was not identified until this current investigation was started. Because of that all of the resident’s complaints from August to November 2024 have been merged into one case and investigated in this report.
  2. In her submission to the Ombudsman, the resident has referred to her situation impacting upon her health. In accordance with paragraph 42.f. of the Scheme, health concerns are more effectively resolved and remedied through the courts. It will not be considered in this report.

The landlord’s response to the resident’s reports about problems with the electrics in her home.

  1. The resident’s tenancy agreement says the landlord is to keep in good repair and proper working order any installations it provides for the supply of electricity, including electric wiring, sockets and switches.
  2. The landlord’s responsive repairs policy says that emergency repairs which present an immediate danger are made safe within 24 hours. It says urgent repairs are completed within 7 days and routine repairs within 28 days.
  3. The evidence shows the landlord responded within these timescales to the resident’s reports between January 2024 and 23 August 2024. The records show that it replaced 3 sockets on 22 January 2024 and completed tests following a report on 19 January 2024.
  4. The landlord attended on 23 February 2024 following a report on 7 February 2024 about a socket not working. It attended on 5 April 2024, to a report that day of the fridge freezer socket not working. At both appointments it noted no faults were found or action required. The landlord appropriately explained the use of the electricity smart meter display when attending the property on 23 February 2024, in in attempt to reassure the resident there were no faults. This demonstrated a customer focused approach.
  5. Following the number of reports, and the resident’s continued concerns despite no faults being found, the landlord completed an Electrical Installation Condition Report (EICR) on 30 April 2024. The landlord was not required to do this and it demonstrated the landlord had taken the resident’s concerns seriously. The landlord also attended within an appropriate timescale on 9 July 2024 following the resident’s report on 1 and 3 July 2024 about a fuse box and washing machine socket. The repair notes stated 2 electricians attended. No issues were found and the electricity usage meter was operating normally for the equipment used.
  6. One of the concerns the resident reported and complained about was that her roof space was being accessed by strangers and electrics were being tampered with. The resident reported this on 11 January 2024, and the landlord confirmed in its final response on 16 September 2024 that it had attended on 30 January 2024 to inspect both the resident’s and the communal roof space. It confirmed no signs of access or issues with wiring or voltage. We have not seen evidence of this particular visit but the resident did not dispute the landlord’s explanation.
  7. The landlord’s records showed it attended again on 8 March 2024 to check the loft space. The work notes show it provided the resident with photos, reassured her the loft was uninhabited, and explained no signs of electrical problems had been found. Its repair records also note it checked the loft space at the appointment on 5 April 2024 and confirmed to the resident there were no live cables (as she had thought there might be). With these actions the landlord demonstrated it investigated the resident’s concerns and made appropriate attempts to reassure her of its findings.
  8. In her complaint the resident stated that the landlord had not attended her property following her report of sounds from a plug in the kitchen, and an exploding plug on 24 August 2024. The landlord explained in its final response in September 2024 that it had not attended due to attending the previous day for the same issue and finding no faults. It said it was confident there were no issues with the electrics and it would not send an electrician again unless a new fault occurred.
  9. It is understandable that having attended the property on multiple occasions from January 2024 and finding no faults or actions required, the landlord might be reluctant to re-attend what appeared to be a repeat report of an unfounded concern. However, the landlord had a responsibility under the terms of the tenancy agreement and its repairs policy to ensure all fixtures and fittings for the supply of electricity were in working order, and the resident had a tenancy responsibility to report any repair issues. The resident had reported that the problem had reoccurred after the electrician had left on 23 August 2024 and reported that the sockets were not working. While these had been tested the day previously, the resident had reported that the situation had changed following the landlord’s attendance.  
  10. The records show the resident was informed that the appointment made for 24 August 2024 had been cancelled, but not why. There is no evidence of the landlord communicating its decision not to attend repeat reports until its September complaint response. Because of that the resident was not aware and experienced the distress and inconvenience of continuing to report the issue on 24, 25 and 26 August 2024. The landlord could have informed the resident why it would not attend more promptly. This is a service failure.
  11. The landlord’s records show that the resident continued to raise concerns about the electrics at her property following the end of the complaints process. She raised new complaints about this in September 2024 and November 2024. While the landlord explained it had previously investigated the complaint and would not do so again, it arranged a test of the resident’s appliances. This was an appropriate action to take and demonstrated a customer focused approach and an attempt to repair the landlord and resident relationship, especially as the resident’s complaints were, essentially, repeats of her earlier one.
  12. As part of its response to the complaint the landlord also worked with the resident to find an alternative property (something the resident had asked for because of her concerns about the electrics and other issues).  It did this through its tenancy sustainment team. It also demonstrated it made referrals to support services. The landlord confirmed to the Service in December 2024 that it had approved a management move for the resident, and a suitable property had been identified.
  13. Overall, the landlord attended both routine and emergency appointments following the resident’s reports about the electrics from January 2024 up to August 2024, in line with its repairs policy and obligations. It further showed patience and understanding towards the resident by arranging an additional electrics test after its September complaint response, and actively supporting and arranging her move to a new home

Determination

  1. In accordance with paragraph 52 of the Housing Ombudsman Scheme, there was service failure in the landlord’s response to the resident’s reports about problems with the electrics in her home.

Orders

  1. The landlord is ordered to pay the resident compensation of £50 for the distress and inconvenience caused by failing found in this investigation. The landlord is to provide evidence of compliance with the above order to the Service within 4 weeks of the date of this report.